San Francisco region homes sales up nearly 39 pct

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov 20 (Reuters) - Home sales in the San Francisco Bay area rose nearly 39 percent in October from a year earlier amid a record fall over the same time in the region's median home price, according to a report by MDA DataQuick released on Thursday.

A total of 7,613 new and resale houses and condominiums sold in the nine-county region last month, up 4.7 percent from September and up 38.8 percent from a year earlier as buyers took advantage of depreciation and foreclosures in affordable inland areas, the San Diego-based real estate information service said in its report.

The median price paid for all homes in the region fell to $375,000 in October, down 6.3 percent from September and a record 40.6 percent from a year earlier, marking the 11th consecutive month the median fell on a year-over-year basis. (Reporting by Jim Christie; Editing by James Dalgleish)